Oh-Bla-Di

Matt’s best buddy, John P., graduated from TPS at the beginning of December. They were mostly celebrating the bad-for-your-kidneys process of having built a huge pyramid of Pepsi Max cans.

We went back for the big event to celebrate and simply enjoy the simplicity of Edwards living. We never thought we’d miss much of the life at that base, but it was a wonderful weekend of relaxation and festivities.

Thanks to the Jungquists for watching Ava for the duration of the graduation!

Matt’s family always celebrated St. Nicholas Day growing up. I knew nothing about it until we were married, but I have to say I’m pretty much a fan of a random day chosen for present giving. We’ve celebrated each year we’ve been married.

Ava, of course, has no idea what it’s all about, but she was pleased enough to open her present from St. Nick. This year, Matt received some router bits (clever St. Nick knew he’d be in the woodshop); I received a PostSecret book; and, Ava received the coolest Very Hungry Caterpillar pop-up book.

The day after Thanksgiving, Matt and I celebrated our fifth anniversary. We had a wonderful day. We saw a movie (New Moon!), went to a casual, low-key dinner, and then went to see an amazing show (Ka!). We didn’t manage to get a picture of the two of us that evening, but just picture us happy as can be, loving our time together. That’s how we’d look.

I don’t have a picture of the two of us, but I grabbed this shot of Matt the day after our anniversary. We were having a very quiet day and snacking, watching movies, and chilling out after a long couple of weeks. Even with all the amazing fun we have, days like the one pictured here are still my favorite.

Thanks for a wonderful five years, Matt. Looking forward to all the decades to come!

After Ava’s birthday, it was time to coast into Thanksgiving celebrations. We love to cook Thanksgiving dinner and really enjoy having a houseful of people on this very fun day.

On Wednesday, known around here as Pie Day, we cooked nonstop to get all the side dishes ready for Thursday as well as the pies, of course. Per White family tradition, Pie Day usually ends with an enchilada meal, but this year, since Matt wouldn’t be home to make them, we opted to make a Renfro family traditional meal – pizza!

Thursday was a beautiful day and, thanks to all the help, dinner was a breeze to put on the table. In fact, we had enough time to do some playing around before all the eating began.

We’re a very blessed family and one of our biggest blessings is the people with whom we get to share our time. Love these people…we’re so very thankful.

The wall behind our couch (now behind the La-Z-Boys) used to have three big floral prints from Michael’s hanging on it. You might remember it from this awesome photo of my Bond girls. Nothing fancy, and certainly nothing personal and awesome about it.

I found inspiration for the change from this blog post. The theme of the rules posted there weren’t for us, but the project concept was great. So, after some crafting, lots of consultation with Matt, a bunch of Modge Podge, and some cheapo frames and photo printing, we’ve got a wall full of family that we’re happy to look at every day.

Maybe the best part of this project was that Matt and I sat down one night and really discussed these rules. (Believe you me, the thesaurus and dictionary got a lot of use that night!) We both realize that words have power and wanted to choose just the right ones to guide our family. These rules really are what we hope our family will value and the way we want to be reminded to live each day. It was nice to have that time with him, to reconnect about our purpose, and to have a tangible result of that work to help us remember.

They’re a little hard to read, so here are our rules (sorry about the flashy glare in the picture…photographer, I am not!).

Family Rules